The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-04
MRS. KATE CHASE.
Something About Her Home Life ano
the Biography of Her Father

Something About Her Home Lie ana
the Biography of Her Father.
From Washington Letter to the Chicago Neics.
| saw Mrs. Kate Chase on the street yes
terday, and, although she is considerably
stouter, she holds her beauty to this day, ana
would be conspicuous in any company Tor
looks and brains. There is seldom woman
in these modern times who has suffered as
she has undeservedly; seldom one with
greater devotion to those who have been
just and true TO her; but as trouble never
comes to those who cannot endure, she has
had the strength, the courage and the
resistance few women are possessed OF.
| know something of the untold his
tory of recent years, facts that
may not be published, and the knowledge
impels me to speak q word Of praise for
Mrs. Chase whenever get an opportunity:
She Is living quietly at Edgewood, the Old
mansion that was the summer home OF her
fathers when he was Secretary OF the Treas
ury and Chief Justice, situated a mile or 50
beyond the boundaries of the city eastward,
on hill that overlooks the country for
miles around. The course of the empire is
always westward, and the fashionable folk
have gone in crowds III the other direction,
so that now Edgewood is almost in seclusion
and few people know that Mrs. Chase is
there.
She is in voluntary retirement, however,
In work of love and duty, and has only
emerged oneD since her return from Paris.
That was one evening last winter, when she
attended the looming OUT party OF the
daughter Of an Old friend of whom she is
very fond. For couple of hours she stood
i'll the centre of an admiTing company and
answered questions about herself; then she
returned IN tho hoI o,cain Nybpra invita-
tions do not reach her, ard few callers are
admitted, except very near friends. In con-
nection with the education OF her two
daughters which she is conducting herself,
with the assistance of a young blind man,
who teaches them Latin and mathematics.
She is devoting herself to a biography of
her late father.
Two lives of Chief Justice Chase have
been written, one by man by the name of
Shuckers, who is living on his familiarity
with the affairs of the Chase family as Ba-
deau is living on the acquaintance he had
with Grant, and another by lawyer named
Warden, who was secretary to Andrew
johnson. Neither of these books was
authorized, so to speak; both were written
for the benefit of the authors and not for
the honor of the subject, and one
the family has attempted to sup
press. To her children and TO her
IaUnefS memory MIS- CnaSe VIII devote Jhe
rest of her life, and at EdgewoOd she is sit
ting neck deep in old papers, letters of Il pri-
vate as well as a public nature, official
records, etc, studying, classifying, making
briefs, copying extracts and preparing ma
terial for a work that will add much of in
terest and value to the history of the times
when Salmon p. Chase was a great leader of
men and factor in events.
The work will net be purely a biography
but history will be made from the mate
rial be left, some of it of such character
that it will excite comment and controversy.
Such work as Mrs. Chase proposes could
no have been printed ten years ago. 1t
will not be printed till ten hence, probably,
when sharp outlines of personal character
and partisan prejudices will be softened by
study and reflection. We write our history
too soon. | understand that Mrs. Chase's
income is limited, and she must do the work
alone. She cannot even afford an amanu-
ensiS. But she has a home, enough funds TO
buy what comforts she needs, and no desire
to return to fashionable life.
Her eldest daughter, Miss Ethel, now al
most young lady, is talking as if she in
tended to go upon the stage. not because she
but because she has some gifts that way and
thinks she can put them to profitable &C
count. She is ambitious to make money
and aid her mother. Several times she has
| received offers from managers to appear
| but both the mother and daughter agree
that her education should be finished first
and two or three years more will be spent
III study at the country home.